


Perfect

by the2fast2u



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, akakuro if you squint, based on Perfect by Simple Plan, rated t just to be safe, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 05:23:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3838666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the2fast2u/pseuds/the2fast2u
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Although I must wonder why Akashi-kun would keep this a secret when he’s perfect at it just like in everything else.” Those words hurt more than they should have. Perfect. That’s the one thing I am definitely not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect

I was just finishing my homework when my father called me. “Seijuro, dinner’s ready. Get down so we can eat.” He didn’t knock. He didn’t open the door, either. He simply stood outside my door and told me what he had to. It was always that way. Every day the same routine. Not even the meals changed. It was Tuesday, so we’d be having pork with potatoes and carrots. Father would ask me how I was doing and I’d answer the same thing: “School is okay – I haven’t gotten any grade below 98. The basketball team is doing great – we haven’t lost a single game since last year’s finals and it looks like we’ll fix that mistake this year.” I wouldn’t mention the violin – the Akashi’s had too much a prestige for the only heir to indulge in something as useless as music.

The only things that sometimes changed were the songs I played on the violin at the afternoon, while the maids were too busy cleaning the other side of the mansion and father wasn’t anywhere near coming home. The alarm that told me my father would be arriving at any time always sounded too soon and I’d have to hide the violin in the back of my closet far away for nobody to find it and get everything from school out of my bag and do my work.

There was only one person who had ever heard me play. He wasn’t meant to, either. I had gone to the library to play. I just needed to. I had to get away from my father and everything that he implied. So I put my violin inside my school bag as much as it hurt me to treat it that badly and told him I was going to the library to get some good sources for a school paper. The place was by no means what you’d consider big or new, but the owner was kind and loved to hear classical music live, so he always let me play if I only asked. He was there merely by coincidence.

“I had no idea Akashi-kun could play this well. Let alone that he was this good,” was all he said as he stood in front of me. I was well aware that I sometimes got lost when I played, but not sensing him came to a bigger surprise than the fact that he was there and he had heard me play.

“I trust you won’t tell anyone about this, Tetsuya.” Those were the only words that managed to get out of my lips.

“I promise I won’t.” I sighed in relief and proceeded to put the violin back inside my bag – my father would start to wonder if I took too long to get back to the mansion. “Although I must wonder why Akashi-kun would keep this a secret when he’s perfect at it just like in everything else.” Those words hurt more than they should have. _Perfect_. That’s the one thing I am definitely not. Perfect people did not sneak out to small libraries to play the violin for some short 10 minutes. Perfect people did not do many things he did.

“Everybody has their motives for the things they do, Tetsuya. Sometimes, though, it’s better to not think too much about it.” He didn’t seem too convinced by my words, but let me go with a simple goodbye.

Two knocks on my bedroom door brought me back to my room. “Akashi-sama, your father sent me to pick you up for dinner.”

I got up and saw one of the maids standing outside my door.

“I am very sorry for making him wait and for making you come here to call me back.”

The maid looked surprised at what I said. Or maybe it was something else. No matter what it was, she made no comment about it.

When I made it to the dining room, I saw my father sitting at his end of the table with his pork with potatoes and carrots in front of him and an identical dish sitting on the opposite side of the table. He didn’t turn around to great me when I entered and didn’t utter a single word until I was sitting.

“I called you for dinner 15 minutes ago and had to get a maid to bring you down. I trust this won’t be repeated in the future, right, Seijuro?” He said while cutting his pork without looking my way.

“It won’t, father. I was simply trying to finish my French essay before coming down so I could move onto my German homework after dinner.”

He nodded slowly. He didn’t have to speak for me to know what he was thinking: “punctuality is the most important asset of a person: if you cannot even do that, then no matter what you do, it will be useless.”

The silence in the room was in no way unusual, but something felt different than the one that would normally fill our dinners. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was different, but I could feel that this was not good, like it was the calm before the storm. I could almost feel the moment something cracked when my father was done eating and put his knife and fork down and looked up from his plate for the first time since I had entered the room. I felt his stare burning, but I tried to ignore it until I finished dinner. Manners are more important than anything. It would be an insult to the chef to leave anything uneaten due to whatever my father wanted to talk about.

Once I was finished, I looked up and I can’t say I was surprise with what I saw. If looks could kill, I would’ve been down in less time than I could count to three.

“What is it, father?”

He didn’t answer for a couple of second. He simply stared at me. And, for a moment, I thought that was worse than him speaking.

“How long have you been playing the violin?”

I could feel everything in my life crumbling. He was not supposed to know that. Everything was about academics to my father. Everything else was forbidden in this household. Basketball had been an exception only because I was the captain and he had accepted when I told him it would teach me the leadership skills I would need when I took over the family business. But playing the violin…I had picked it up as a child when my mother had convinced him to let me take classes, but I had been not allowed to play ever since I turned 12 and I had to become an adult and let those childish things go.

I couldn’t keep up his stare and so I looked down at my empty plate.

“I imagine I have no need to repeat myself and you will answer that simple question.”

“I…I…” I looked up. I couldn’t sound this lost. I was not allowed to sound week. The Akashi’s were strong. I was strong. “I never gave it up.”

“I see…” was all he said.

The silence came back, only this time it was worse. I could tell what it was he was going to say. He had no need to say it. But I couldn’t hear it. If I heard it, then it would become a reality. And I was in no condition to accept that reality. I needed to get away. To get upstairs, grab my violin and leave. The library wouldn’t be open, but that wasn’t a problem. I would play anywhere. I just needed to feel the strings under my fingers, the bow moving delicately back and forth, the melody that I was bringing to this world…I needed that. I craved it like nothing I’ve ever craved in my entire life.

“You know what my policy regarding playing music is, Seijuro.” Yes, I knew. Of course I knew. That’s why I had to sneak out to play. That’s why I had a 40 minute limit to play music every day. That’s why the wood of the violin was damaged around the edged due to being carried in a place that is not prepared for it. That’s why I had to keep it in the furthest corner of my closet. Because I couldn’t let it go. Because, out of everything I had ever done in my life, this was the thing I enjoyed and loved the most. “You know, I was talking to the Yamada’s the other day.” He began speaking as he brought his glass of wine to his lips. “They’re marveled at everything you’ve accomplished considering your age. 4.0 GPA, captain of your school’s team even though you were only a freshman and even leading your team to the final round of nationals, and, if that wasn’t enough, you can speak four languages fluently, all at the young age of seventeen.” It wouldn’t take a genius to see where he was going. “No matter how you look at it, you are the perfect candidate to marry their daughter, don’t you think?”

“I think I am still young to be thinking about marriage, father.”

“Nonsense!” He said while laughing. “Your mother and I were engaged by the time we were 19.”

This could not be happening. There was no way this was happening.

“As I was saying…can’t you see how this…violin thing…of yours will affect their view of you? Of the Akashi’s as a whole?”

I could not believe where this conversation was heading.

“What do you want me to do, father?”

“Of course I’m expecting you to hand in your violin by tomorrow morning.”

I knew it was coming, and yet I was hoping against hope that, somehow, he would say anything but that. I couldn’t accept it. I simply couldn’t. This was the one thing I wanted in my life no matter what. No, I didn’t want this – I _needed_ it. I had to have my violin with me. I had to let my bow make those beautiful sounds. I had to have those 30-40 minutes a day to just listen to those notes flowing softly through the air.

But my father’s words were absolute. And there was absolutely nothing I could do against them. I was powerless in every way when it came to him.

There was nothing I could do about this and I knew it. All I could do was nod my head, get up and leave to my room.

I saw my father’s proud face as I passed by him. Of course he’d feel that way. I knew that feeling very well. Having things go your way perfectly. It was one of the best feelings in the world. You were on top of everything and everybody. With nothing above you, you could do as you please. I never thought I’d ever come to hate that feeling.

I slammed the door as soon as I was inside my room. I dashed to my closet and took every single piece of clothing that was in front of my violin and placed them on the bed. I took the case and opened it, sat on the floor and simply stared at it. This time tomorrow, it would be out of my reach. No more calm afternoons. No more beautiful evenings at the library. No more beautiful melodies. No more anything. All there would be left was school homework, English homework, French homework and German homework. Some days, I may change that to focus on basketball strategy.

I was finding it extremely difficult to so much as picture myself in that future. How was I supposed to endure it for the next 6 years or so until I could move out? And even then, after not having played for so long, the sounds would be nowhere near as pleasing as they were now. I wouldn’t find it as calming. It wouldn’t be the same.

I got up and put all of my clothes back in the closet. I had no idea what I was going to do, but that mess on my bed could not be excused no matter what the circumstances may be.

Next thing I knew, I was standing by the ocean. I had no idea how I got there, but I figured _he_ had something to do with it. I couldn’t remember what had happened or what had compelled him to make me walk all the way to where I was standing, but, seeing the ocean and hearing the soft sound of the waves, I could get an idea.

I put my hands in my pockets and felt my phone vibrating.

“Good evening, Akashi-kun.”

Of all the people that could’ve called me.

“Hello, Tetsuya.”

“I’m very sorry to bother you, but…” there was some hesitation in his voice, but it was clear that he was trying his best to disguise it. “I was…sorry. I was wondering if you will be playing at the library tomorrow.” I couldn’t answer to that question. “Akashi-kun? Are you still there?”

“Yes. Sorry, Tetsuya.” There was silence once again.

“I’m sorry to bother with the same question, but will you be playing tomorrow? I do enjoy the sound of your playing and it creates a beautiful reading environment.”

Once again, there was silence.

“Akashi-kun?”

I couldn’t answer to his question. Of course I wanted to be playing tomorrow, but…with my father asking for my violin…I wasn’t sure I would be able to. The old owner had a violin of his own, but it was old and the chords were in no state to be played in an enjoyable way.

“Akashi-kun? Sorry to bother with so many questions at this time, but…where are you right now?”

“Why would you ask that question, Tetsuya?”

“I’m truly sorry if my question was out of place, but I would believe Akashi-kun would be in a quiet room in his vacation home and…if I remember properly, that house was up the hill and…there’s the sound of waves in the background.”

“That would be obvious, Tetsuya. I needed some fresh air and decided to go on a walk. You can’t have any complains about that, can you?”

“Who…who are you?”

“What a silly thing to ask. I’m Akashi Seijuro, Tetsuya.”

There was silence on the other side of the line, and I could almost hear his thoughts coming together.

“What…what happened?”

“My father asked for me to hand him his violin by the morning. Naturally, I obeyed to his request.”

“What…How…did you hand it to him?” I couldn’t help the few laughs that escaped though my lips.

“Of course he hasn’t found it yet, Tetsuya. His request was for the violin to be in his possession by the morning, so I made it so that he wouldn’t get a hold of it before tomorrow morning.”

He didn’t utter a single word. The only sounds that came out of him where his almost stable breaths and the almost laughable sound of his thoughts as he went through what I had just told him.

“There has to be more to it. That is much too simple a plan for someone like you,” he whispered as if he were terrified of his own conclusions.

“You are truly exceptional in reading between the lines and observing people, Tetsuya. I am pleased to see that you are still improving in your special abilities.”

“Please don’t mock me, Akashi-kun, and tell me what you did.”

“There’s no need to sound so panicked, Tetsuya. I simply left the violin on my bed, making sure that absolutely everything else was properly cleaned and ordered so that there would be no distractions in the room and he would have no trouble finding it.”

He was quiet as he waited once more for me to go on and tell him since he knew for a fact that there was more to it than I had given away.

“Normally, I couldn’t let him get my precious violin without expecting some sort of payback. Everything has a price, even for my father.”

“What did you do?” Tetsuya’s voice sounded panicked, as if he had no doubt in his mind about what I had done, but wondered and probably hoped that he had been mistaken.

“He had made arrangements to get me married. It appeared that the only imperfection I possessed was my musical interest and the clear source of it.” As I spoke, I approached the shore, not without stopping whenever some rocks crossed my way and placing them in my pockets. “He expected me to be the perfect son, perfect heir, perfect person…perfect things can never exist, Tetsuya.”

“Whatever you’re about to do, please stop it!”

“I’m sorry, Tetsuya.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, not sorry.  
> Just...it had been a really long time since I last wrote angst and I kinda missed it.  
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated, either here or on the2fast2u.tumblr.com (still don't know how to do the whole link thing)


End file.
